Bill Cipher's Shadow
by Vampire Tails
Summary: *Back-story based on an RP* During Weirdmaggedon, Bill Cipher goes out to terrorize some citizens of Gravity Falls, but encounters something that will change his life forever and have him embark on an incredible journey. Rated T- Missing Genre: Friendship Started: 11/28/2015 at 11:52p Cover Art by invderlava
1. The Start of Light

**A/N:** I'm still here, guys! and I'm back with a new fanfic. This time, it's Gravity Falls, and it's my very first one. Hooray for me! Now, enough of my jabber. Go on ahead and read _that_ jabber. I hope you enjoy it.

 **Theme Songs  
** 1\. Aviators - Spirit of Chaos  
2\. Wooden Toaster + H8Seed - Awoken

* * *

Beg.  
11/28/2015  
11:52p

* * *

 **Chapter One: The Start of Light**

It was yet another weird, horrifying day for the civilians of the usually quaint but off town of Gravity Falls. The town was broken, debris and trash strewn across the streets, and the sky was a chaotic swirl of orange, red and green, and in a certain place was the Fearamid, floating near this strange rift in the sky. People came to fear this monument, and its creator would have it no other way.

The eponymous triangular dream demon sat on a large throne crafted by various human-shaped stones his demon eyes collected during their first day here. He looked down at his demon friends, watching them have fun playing games and dancing like maniacs. Bill Cipher chuckled; he'd join in too, but he was too busy mentally planning out his nightly terrorizing of the town. The dream demon wondered if he should take the hot rod, but quickly decided against it.

The townsfolk would be way too scared much too soon for his liking by that roaring entrance. And so, he decided to simply take himself down to Gravity Falls; Bill jumped off his throne, but his feet didn't dare touch the floor.

He really liked levitating. It made him feel powerful and above everyone, especially those skin puppets over which he had full reign. Bill laughed evilly, his "shoulders" bouncing; honestly, they were so easy to trick that it's a wonder they knew how to take care of themselves and all they care about. It almost made him feel bad about bringing on the weird apocalypse.

But "almost" simply wasn't good enough.

The dream demon turned to his compadres, as he opened the door with a flourish of his hand.

"Behave yourselves, my friends! this demon is going out for a night on the town!" he chuckled, summoning his cane and twirling it for a while; his friends looked at him and smiled, and he returned the motion with his eye, "Heh, who am I kidding? knock yourselves out!"

One of his friends, 8-Ball, was about to knock himself out, and Bill stopped him, "Woah, woah, woah! I don't mean literally!" and subtly rolled his eye as said demon chuckled sheepishly and everyone else pointed fingers and laughed.

The triangular demon then levitated backwards out the door, slowly, and Pacifier waved him off, saying that they will be fine. He narrowed his eye slightly and then tipped his top hat before he headed out the door, floating down into the broken village. Bill quietly marveled at his work, at his friends' work.

He could still hardly believe that this town at least was finally his and that he was finally allowed after over a trillion years to roam the physical realm as a real being!

He had brought Gravity Falls and its citizens to their knees and was looking to break some more spirits and perhaps even to make some evil deals.

 _But was it really worth it?_

Bill jumped at this thought, surprised that it came from his own mind.

 _ **Is**_ _it worth it?_

He hesitated to answer and then growled a "Yes!", doing away with that sympathetic voice that sounded strikingly and almost frighteningly similar to his...

Bill tore his mind away from that occurrence, making himself focus again on the town; he had by now made it to ground level and he looked around, mostly for people to terrorize. It bothered him slightly to see that the town was almost empty, as the demon bats had collected the souls unfortunate enough to have stayed out when Weirdmaggedon kicked off, which was, again, mostly everyone.

 _Ergh! who am I supposed to terrorize and with whom am I supposed to strike deals now?!_

The dream demon continued searching, passing broken shop after broken home and dodging flying debris, until he spotted something peculiar.

Or, rather... some _one_...

Bill smirked, softly chuckling and rubbing his hands together deviously. This "someone" was a little girl, who didn't look like she was from around here, standing on the corner. Her short, bony tan arms hugged her torso as she shivered, as if cold, even with her thick blue nightgown. This mattered not to the dream demon, whose only concern was striking it big—and who better to manipulate than a small child?

Most he encountered were fairly impressionable, so he couldn't see why this excuse for a fleshling would be any different. The girl scanned the area with her large blue eyes, lost and almost hopeless, and suddenly a bright light flashed beside her. She shielded her eyes before she turned to look; her eyes widened at the sight of a golden triangle, with black arms, legs, top hat and bowtie, complete with an eye, staring down at her with contempt. She didn't seem to be the least bit frightened, which bothered him and caused him to throw out his speech.

"Hey, kid! you ever heard of screaming in terror?" his eye narrowed at her, and she merely brought her hand away from her eyes, examining him; she got a bit scared, but not as much as he would have liked. Bill sighed and took to staring at her, scanning for her vitals— _y'know, to see how long she would be able to suffer under my reign—_ her origins, and her fears.

He chuckled silently, grinning, "You must be so proud of yourself, kid! for you not to fear the one who started it all! here," he clapped and then held out his hand, "have a disembodied heart that's still beating!"

A bloody, scarred heart then appeared in his palm, pulsating loudly; the girl cringed, backing away as he tried to hand it to her.

"Oh, what's that? you don't want it?" he then dramatically feigned being hurt, "oh, I'm so hurt! and to think I finally found someone who'd appreciate my sense of weirdness."

Bill made the heart vanish in the most appalling way ever, further creeping out the girl, and then he chortled, erasing every bit of pretend emotional pain as the chortle rose into a garbled laugh. The wind cropped out, blowing her long, dark brown hair around and carrying his laugh across town. As soon as he finished laughing, he said, "You don't look like you're from around here," tapping his "chin" with mock confusion before once again it evaporated, and he grinned again, "nonetheless I know who you are, Nasla!"

Nasla gasped, "How do you know my name?"

"Oh, haha, kid! I know lots of things!" his body then displayed various events, and he echoed in a deeper, slower voice, "lots of things," before he brought it back to his normal speech pattern, "and I'd seen many things!"

The girl cowered at many of these events; he relished in her fear, keeping up at this display and showing more morbid events, each one worse than the last. She started crying when she saw one event in particular, tears welling up, and she begged him to stop. More out of boredom than a remorseful obligation to heed her command, or so he had thought, he stopped, his body returning to that glowing golden color. He chuckled, unnecessarily fixing his bow-tie, "The name's Bill Cipher, kid, and I rule over this town!"

Nasla took this in carefully, "Bill Cipher... right?"

He suddenly leaned in closer, and she trembled at this disruption of personal space, and he bellowed, "Did I stutter? like you're about to in about two seconds?"

She stared in silence, cowering, and then, despite herself, stammered, "O...o..of c-course not..." in exactly two seconds.

Bill laughed, levitating away from her, placing his hands where his tummy would probably be, leaning back in midair and kicking his legs; he then dramatically pointed at Nasla, "You crack me up, kid! you really do!"

She stared at him for a while, put off by his behavior, and then she shook her head, narrowing her bright blue eyes—Bill Cipher's laughter died off as she started backing away, "I'll just... go now..."

The glee all but drained from his face, and he managed to chuckle even as Nasla turned around and walked away.

"Woah, woah, woah there, kid," he stretched out his arm to block her way and then drag her back towards him, her struggling the whole way, "I was actually hoping to make a deal with you."

"A... deal?" she tilted her head.

"Yeah, a deal," he rolled his eye. "Sheesh, kid, are you that dense that you have to repeat every word I say?"

Nasla looked offended by this and teared up a little, but Bill Cipher didn't care and he just laughed it off as he continued, "I can make _anything_ you want happen. Anything at all."

The many possibilities started turning the gears in her head, but she was only focused on one thing. Bill's patience was wearing thin; he was never one for waiting, so he ushered her on, "Tick tock, kid," his eye turning into a clock for a minute when Nasla looked at him. The tan girl sighed, murmuring what she wanted.

The dream demon could barely hear her request.

He scoffed, "Louder!" rolling his eye.

"I want my blanket... I lost it," she repeated, and Bill only narrowed his eye at this.

"A blanket?" he spat, his body gaining a red, enflamed outline; Nasla started backing away, as he continued, "a _blanket_? all the power you've been graciously offered to have _anything_ in the world appear before you... and you want a _**blanket**_?!"

The girl whimpered and she's suddenly frozen to the ground, unable to back away more, and she nodded. As if the nod had control over his outbursts, which it didn't, the flames and red outline vanished just as suddenly as they appeared, and Bill Cipher stared at her, looking a bit peeved, obviously because his vast amounts of power would have to be limited to just this simple, meager task.

Of course, whatever else could he expect from a mere, small flesh bag?

"Okay, kid..." he sighed, "it _is_ what you want..." he then looked at his fingers, a smirk now on his eye, "now, if I can have a little something in return for conjuring up a blanket for ya—"

"No!" she quickly interrupted, catching him somewhat off guard, "I don't want a new blanket. I want my old one.. it's lost."

The dream demon narrowed his eye, "Lost blanket. Okay, I'll find your blanket, kid, but first I have to establish something I'll get out of this."

Nasla narrowed her eyes at Bill, noting the devious look, and waiting for his request.

"It's not big," he chuckled, "not at all. I only want you to be my slave for all of eternity!"

Bill didn't bother being subtle or vague; if she _really_ wants her blanket, she'd give up her freedom to have it back.

He didn't realize how wrong he would be...

"What? no!" the girl cried out, and Bill frowned with that eye at her, "I just want my blanket! I don't wanna be a slave!"

"You must not be desperate for it then; if it's really that important, you would take me up on my offer!" that frown turned into a smile, devious once again, "Besides, it won't be bad, the servitude. You'd just be another puppet I can pilot without actually possessing them!" his voice gained a gleeful tone, "Won't that be fun, Nasla?"

She shook her head vigorously, "No! I want my blanket! nothing else!"

Bill Cipher suddenly got very close again, enlarged himself, and his voice increased in volume and lowered an octave, "Take the deal or you get nothing!"

Tears began welling up in her eyes, as she was so very scared. Bill thought she'd crack, and tried pushing her by summoning scary objects, and lastly a ball and chain and handcuffs. His voice returned to its usual pitch, "So... whaddya say, kid?"

She hesitated for a while and then narrowed her eyes again, still about to cry, yelling out, "No! I refuse!"

Turns out this kid was a lot more stubborn than he thought, and his brow furrowed, "I'm giving you one more chance, kid." His voice seemed to radiate a cold darkness; that scared Nasla even more, and he continued, "Deal? or no deal? blanket or no blanket?"

"I still want my blanket!" she shot at him, and Bill was so frustrated by this point that he was about to do the unthinkable. The demon shrank to his usual size, growling and summoning large blue flames tinted with crimson; he was going to strike her down with them, but that's when Nasla's tears started flowing, symbolizing both fright and sorrow.

This stirred something within Bill as he watched those tears fall from her large blue eyes, something he'd only felt rather rarely throughout his entire life. The look on his face softened, and he was confused.

Why was he moved by tears now?

He's seen a lot of tears in his day; none of them ever touched him in this way.

Bill Cipher's eye twitched, and he dispelled the flames and turned away from her, trying to collect himself. Nasla tilted her head, still feeling the cold tears running down her cheeks. She couldn't wrap her mind around this sudden change in emotion, briefly wondering if she had done something.

Little did she know, she basically opened the floodgates leading to a miracle...

The dream demon couldn't understand this feeling, and he couldn't seem to push it back.

Not this time.

He chanced a look back at the girl, trying to get his intimidation factor back as he glared, but he found he couldn't help seeing her in a different, sympathetic light. He sighed, shaking his "head", "Ehh..." and Nasla seemed to grow less and less afraid as she continued to stare, still not sure what happened.

"You... you don't want this... do you?" he visibly struggled, as if he didn't want to say this and as if he was still battling what was rising within him.

The girl shook her head, sniffling.

"You just... want your blanket back," Bill was losing this fight, for this became a lot easier to say, much to his dismay and hidden, small delight, "want me to find your blanket..."

Nasla was hopelessly confused, but comforted, especially when she saw that compassionate, albeit somewhat dull at this point, expression in his previously sinister eye.

"Well, kid," he put his hands behind his back and looked askance, his voice taking on more of a somber tone, "looks like this is your lucky day..."

Her eyebrow rose a smidge. Bill chuckled dryly, and then he looked back at her, a ghost of an unsure smile on his eye, "I'm calling off the deal,"—he pushed back the rising anger at himself, and Nasla's eyes widened, eventually filling with joy as those tears dried—"I can handle not having a skin puppet for a slave. I mean, what use would they _really_ be to me?"

He shook his "head" once more, this attempt at justification not satisfying at all, and he sighed, bringing his hands from behind his back and summoning his cane so he could twirl it absentmindedly, looking to the side once again. Nasla grinned, her body in an excited posture, and she began, "You mean—?"

"Yes, kid," the demon interrupted, looking at her again, "I'm gonna find your blanket with absolutely no charge, no servitude to pay me back, no _nothing_."

Bill still was very uncomfortable calling off his own deal, and the girl smiled with glee. She restrained the urge to hug him, for she was afraid she'd be instantly vaporized; despite his new mood, he still held an obvious contempt for her kind.

He stared at her, on the inside frantically trying to figure out how this change got sparked in the first place. The dream demon felt at his "head", attempting to see if there were any disfigurations that messed with his mind. He sighed when he found absolutely nothing, and the girl continued staring with confusion.

Bill Cipher's eye caught hers, and it narrowed at her, "How come I'm not hearing any cheering? you can cheer now, kid. Besides, you won this game. So feel free to rub my failure in my face. Go ahead!"

The girl simply stayed silent and shook her head, much to his consternation and increased annoyance. He looked so hilariously irritated, most likely to cover up how lost he felt inside, but she didn't dare laugh. Bill glanced away from her, his eye boring into one of the derelict buildings and houses. The sight still didn't really faze him, and he exhaled a sigh of slight relief.

He begrudgingly gazed at Nasla once more, "Okay. Back to more pressing matters, and that is to fulfill your..." he visibly struggled and eventually spat out, " _request_..."

The girl smiled once more, and the demon merely scoffed, rolling his eye.

"Well, I'll see ya after I find it," he then said, starting to glow as he backed away. "Stay safe for me, kid," and he mentally slapped himself, "and, remember, reality is an illusion, the universe is a hologram! buy gold! bye!"

He then vanished, leaving the girl still as lost as she was before Bill bothered her, but at least she now has hope...

* * *

Fin  
Dec. 9, 2015  
1:32a

* * *

 **A/N** : My very first Gravity Falls fanfic.. I feel so proud. Now, before you all ask how Nasla managed to move Bill Cipher with only her tears, lemme just say that she's a very special girl. Very.. special... now I'll see you all again with the next chapter! have a good one.


	2. Turmoil

**A/N:** I'm back with yet another chapter! woot! and I'm introducing yet another original character here who will only be a one-shot but may appear again later. As for the voice, think a pre-Boom Tails.  
Also, I must warn you. This chapter contains hinted gore and definitely some feels!  
Now, enough of what I've gotta say, read what _that's_ gotta say! XD

Chapter Themes  
1\. Escape the Fate - Losing Control  
2\. Coldplay - Lost

* * *

Beg.  
12/9/2015  
1:32a

* * *

 **Chapter Two: Turmoil  
**  
Bill was elsewhere now, both in slight spirit and definitely in location. He sat awkwardly, curled up and leaning against a crumbling yet sturdy wall, still trying to gather his bearings.

Finding Nasla's blanket wasn't the only reason he vanished from her sight. The demon, apparently erroneously, thought that this feeling would go away once he was away from her...

It didn't...

Bill shut his eye and clutched at his "head", still struggling against this foreigner of an emotion. His mind was reeling in pain from the mental squabble, and, worst of all, he was still losing.

He found himself questioning, after a while however, whether _he_ was actually winning and something _else_ was losing. It kinda felt like that, but, after proper debate, he dismissed it as preposterous.

The demon kept some thought of it though, because, maybe...

Just _maybe_...

It might not be so far-fetched at all...

Bill stood up, kinda woozy, and soon realized he wasn't levitating; he fixed that quickly. He heard shuffling noises, like a large hand dragging its body across the street. The dream demon narrowed his eye at hearing the creature's polite requests for people to get in his mouth, followed by some screams and running footsteps, and then rolled his eye. He honestly could never get that guy, whom he called the "Head".

The Head scooted himself halfway past the alley in which Bill had appeared, but he soon caught sight of that yellow triangle floating mere inches above the ground.

"Oh, hey, boss," the Head greeted, and the dream demon subtly cringed for a reason unknown.

Bill pulled himself together and smirked, "Yello, Head."

"Is there any reason people ignore me?" he asked, skipping the formalities, "I just want... I just want people to... to get in my mouth. And it's not working."

The three-sided polygon resisted the urge to facepalm and drag his eye off his face, "Eh... wish I could help, but I've got a... a deal to fulfill," and the Head seemed disappointed. For some reason, he now felt uncomfortable with saying the word "deal".

Or was it perhaps lying?

It felt strange, because lying always had been a part of his life...

Bill thought on this for a while, looking at the ground, and then he heard, "Well, okay, boss," as the Head dragged himself away, "I'll... I'll see you later."

The demon simply waved him off, rubbing at his "head" again.

 _Well,_ he sighed, _best get this over with... the sooner I get this done, the sooner I can get back to ruling this... this primitive town..._

Again, he had no idea how wrong he was.

He floated out from the dark alley as soon as he heard that the Head had gone elsewhere. Bill took in the surroundings once more, and he tried crushing even the smallest spark of sympathy that resulted from the sight. He had _some_ luck, but it wasn't even _near_ complete. The demon settled for this, and then set out searching for Nasla's blanket, checking the empty, rundown buildings. He looked through shoddy drawers that had been knocked over and about, for a steel green fluffy sheet.

Bill couldn't really understand what made this blanket so important to that fleshling that she seemed so eager to cry and to somehow trap him into getting it back to her with no fee.

He couldn't understand it at all.

It made no sense, none of it made sense, which was mind-blowing to him because _he_ _was_ the _epitome_ of nonsense and of all mystical, random phenomena.

 _Ugh... stupid humans and their stupid materialistic attachments_... he complained as he floated out yet another ransacked building. Bill had no idea why he thought that complaint instead of outright saying it aloud.

Perhaps he was afraid someone might hear him...?

But why should he care about some flesh bag getting his or her feelings hurt?

Hell, why should he care about their well-being at all?

If nothing stopped him from breaking his supposed and one-sided contract with Nasla, he'd most certainly and gladly sever the thread. He wasn't even getting _anything_ in return for finding her blanket, so why else was he going through all this trouble?

Bill exited another building, somewhat defeated, and sighed. The demon almost let his feet touch the ground, but, with a brief shriek, he brought himself higher than a few mere inches off the ground. He looked around, and found with dismay that the sight depressed him in this weird, sympathetic way, but he quickly crushed it once more; the rundown town didn't bother him now.

Bill didn't know how long it would be before he started showing compassion, he now knew, again, for not even this was permanent, but this surely kept his wits about him and allowed him to search thoroughly with ease, without suddenly bursting into tears or just being struck with emotions like that dreaded compassion threatened to do to him.

Three buildings later, no blanket was found, and hope was slightly lost. Three of the demon eye bats fluttered past him and they nodded at him in a sort of greeting as they did, but the dream demon only grunted, growing exasperated, in reply. He thought back to Nasla and how on earth he'd get out of this godforsaken "deal" _without_ finding her blanket.

Bill promptly pushed it aside, knowing that it was impossible, and eyed yet another building next to the one of which he just came out. The isosceles monster briefly wondered if the girl was and would be okay, and even whether leaving her alone in a place like this was all right.

He realized and growled again, forcing those thoughts to the back of his mind where he thought they belonged.

"She's fine! she'll be fine!" he yelled, and then he grumbled, "why do I even care...?"

Despite his shout to the heavens, he still felt that bit of concern eating away at him. If he had teeth, he'd be gnashing them as he squashed that feeling too, but not before he promised himself he'd go see if she's alright after this next rummage, despite recalling that he'd head back after her blanket was recovered. He didn't want nor care to check on Nasla, but he thought maybe this concern for her would finally die away once he did.

The demon released a "breath", and entered this next building. Paint was peeling off the scratched up walls, and the furniture had been knocked over, save for the ones bolted down.

Bill could already tell the blanket wasn't here, so up to the second floor he went. Most of the rooms, to his surprise, and slight relief, which was promptly crushed, still remained undamaged in spite of the shockwave that crashed throughout town when Weirdmaggedon began. He had searched through these rooms, but came up with nothing.

Just before he turned to leave the last room he looked through, something caught his attention out of the corner of his eye. This "something" was on a dresser, and, curious, he floated towards it. It was a frame, but he knew a mere frame wouldn't cause him to drop what he was doing.

And he was right, for this frame held some sort of picture.

Bill picked it up, narrowing his eye at it, and tilted the frame delicately all kinds of ways as he took this photo in from all sides and angles. It was of a dark-skinned woman, a light-skinned man, and a little light-skinned boy, standing in their once unravaged backyard, and the back of their once pretty two-floor house brightened the background.

What's more?

They were all smiling, blissfully unaware that this terrible event would come to pass. There was a slight twinge in his heart, something he thought no longer existed, and, his eye now half-closed with a sad regret, he put a finger on the protected photo and slowly traced their smiles, their joyful, brilliant smiles.

This was a family... and he could tell that they had been closely knit and cooperative, not just by his half-omniscience.

And in one fell swoop, he had torn it all apart for his own selfish desire.

Frankly, it took him a lot not to break down right then and there, not only because he had a repute to upkeep, but because he had been trying to crush this compassion for a while now, and giving in he knew would make it worse. He closed his eye, and for a moment only he and this picture he was holding existed...

...until he heard a soft thump by the open door.

Bill's eye shot open, reality settling in once more, and he felt the overbearing compassion, urge to cry and apologize relent, for which he was briefly grateful. The demon then heard whimpering, and his eye narrowed, this time with annoyance and slight frustration. He could tell the sounds belonged to a child meat-sack, and he wasn't willing to deal with more children, but he really had no choice, unless he wanted to scare the kid by teleporting out of here in the creepiest way possible.

Oh, wait―he _did_ , but something was stopping him...

Bill set the frame down surprisingly gently, choice words forming already, and turned to the fleshling, but no sooner did he see his face that those words immediately fled his mind. This boy, albeit slightly older, was the same as in the picture, but, instead of smiling, he looked downright miserable. The demon squashed the sympathy once again, and the two just stared at each other. Finally the boy spoke, "What are you doing here?"

Bill Cipher's nonexistent brow furrowed, and he snapped, "None of ya business!"

The boy flinched, but nonetheless replied, "But this is my home..."

"And I can enter and exit it any time I please!" he interrupted, wanting to get this over with so he could leave with no incident, "you're not the boss of me, Isaac!"

"I didn't say y―"

"Implied, it was _all_ implied!" Bill dragged out the word "all", throwing up his arms, "if anything, _I'm_ the boss of _you_!"'

Isaac, looking at the finger the demon had used to point at him, didn't say anything this time; in fact, he now wondered how this strange triangle knew his name.

As if reading his mind, and he did, Bill laughed wryly, dropping his arm to his side, "You kids really _are_ clueless..." but he didn't say he knew lots of things because he had the nagging suspicion that Isaac was inclined to curiosity, and he really couldn't waste another minute here.

The boy didn't even get offended; instead, he groaned slightly, and the isosceles demon rolled his eye. He had a flicker of a thought to just kill this boy, to put him out of his misery so to speak. This way of euphemizing the word "kill" didn't ease his growing conscience. If anything, this seemed to anger it, for it still knew what the phrase _really_ meant and it wouldn't stand for it to be put into action. Bill growled, and stopped entertaining the murderous thought, and this appeased his conscience.

The demon huffed, and the boy had been staring at him, silently confused. His eye narrowed once more, and he snapped halfheartedly, "That's none of ya business, either!"

This seemed to quiet the boy's thoughts on this matter, and Isaac then looked at the picture, muttering, "I miss them..."

Bill Cipher chanced a look at the photo too, a sad regret forming on his eye once more, and then gazed at the boy, who was now tearing up. Sighing, he could only watch, not knowing how best to comfort people at all; he'd try, but he might make it worse.

He glanced at the photo again, and suddenly he remembered.

Memories that involved this boy's parents, _recent_ memories, flashed through his already slushy mind. It was during his first night on the town, shortly after his weird apocalypse touched down. Some of the townsfolk were still cautiously roaming, and, at first sight of him, they ran. Bill let them run for reasons then unknown to them, but, when they found themselves slowly turning into stone, they knew why.

The demon then heard muffled noises behind him, and his back changed into his front. He saw two people trying desperately to get away from one of his minions, who had them in a firm hold. The isosceles grinned maliciously, summoning his light yellow cane and twirling it as he floated closer to the man and the woman. They grew frightened of him, just as he liked it.

"Well, well, well, look who we have here," he chortled as he poked them in the ribs with his cane. "Robert and Maria Donslova (Dawn-slow-vah). You two are really, _really_ dumb to be out in such a mess," he faked concern for their well-being, when he actually relished that they weren't doing so well, and he _especially_ relished the flinches when his cane prodded their ribs.

The two exhibited a fleeting shock that he knew their names, but Robert, a soft-spoken man, moved on and tried to explain why they were out, but Bill interrupted with a dramatic flourish of his hand, "Oh, I know. You ran out of food and ran out to get more, hehe. You couldn't have picked a worse day," and then his voice took on a sadistic glee, "and now you'll pay the price~!"

Maria started crying, "W...what will you do...?" and tried to escape once more, but the creature kept tight hold on her arm.

"Oh, suck it up!" Bill bellowed, and Maria stopped crying out of fright, and Robert was outright glaring at him; the demon merely chuckled, the wrinkles around his smiling eye showcasing his happiness, "and I'll be doing the usual," and he gestured to the demonic eye bats, who were now heading their way, "but you two seem to be a bit too... _resilient_ for me liking."

Robert's heart skipped a beat, and his wife blanched, and the man reluctantly asked, "Then... then what?"

The dream demon laughed evilly, and the laughter echoed throughout Gravity Falls, and it soon died away before, leaning closer, he replied, "I'm gonna have to cut you down a few sizes!" still as giddy as ever...

Their faces at his comment... which had once given him sadistic satisfaction... now gave him the most sickening feeling in his "stomach".

He remembered torturing them personally, right at that spot, and the methods gradually got worse, until their resilience was finally done in to his liking, which didn't really take long. Bill then let them wander around, wounded and broken, until they finally got petrified and taken away by the demonic bats, who had been ordered to wait a while beforehand.

The dream demon nearly keeled over, remorse and nausea overtaking him. Try as he might, he couldn't crush them, and he bit back a sob, setting his feet on the floor and wrapping his arms around himself as he drooped. The boy grew concerned and asked Bill if he was okay, but the dream demon didn't seem to hear. Isaac soon figured how stupid that question was; obviously, the creature wasn't okay. Gratitude that he didn't hear the question filled him for a moment, but it was soon washed away with concern. Isaac, more loudly, asked another question, "Are you _going_ to be okay?"

Yes.

This inquiry satisfied him, and this time the triangle heard him. Shock was visible in his eye as he pulled himself together and started levitating once more, and then the emotion dissolved into halfhearted contempt and utter frustration.

"Yeah, yeah! I'll be fine, kid!" he lied as if it was the truth, but he knew he wasn't going to be okay. Isaac restrained asking for his certainty, deciding to take the demon's word for it.

Truth was, he knew it was a lie, but he didn't call him out, or else this entity might do something _horrible_ to him. The boy yawned, and Bill Cipher noticed and tilted himself in slight confusion. That yawn could mean a lot of things―boredom, exhaustion, drowsiness, etc―and the dream demon worried that Isaac was growing _bored_ of him. This worry almost slid into anger, but the young man soon muttered, "I'm sleepy..." and the emotions vanished, replaced with relief.

When Isaac did nothing to deal with his drowsiness, however, Bill's frustration shoved his relief aside and he snapped, "Then stop standing around and go to bed or something!"

The boy barely reacted and kept staring at the demonic triangle, and the latter's frustration mounted as he put two and two together. The demon furrowed his brow and shook his head, crossing his arms, "I'm not your dad, kid."

Isaac continued to stare, and Bill tacked on, "I'm _definitely_ not your mom, either."

The boy merely giggled, "I know you're not my mom," and then poked his bow-tie and top hat, and the demon simply smacked his hand away both times, growing increasingly irritated, and levitated higher and out of reach; it bothered him surprisingly little that a human had touched him.

Isaac pouted, but it was only for a short time, for he yawned again, and Bill then inquired sharply, "So why don't you just mosey along to bed?!"

The good mood dissipated from the boy's face, and he looked down at the floor, shuffling his foot. The three-sided polygon felt somewhat bad, and once again he tried crushing it, but the bad feeling only got worse when he heard, "Because my parents usually walk me to bed... and I'd had to do it alone for quite a long time..."

"Oh..." was his only reply.

Bill had an inner debate, a rather short one, and he sighed, _Well, I guess it wouldn't hurt to help... to walk him to bed..._

He levitated out of the room without a word, and the boy followed him. The demon took a left turn and floated down the darkened hall, which was only illuminated by the bright crimson of the sky in the medium-sized window at the end, and by his own golden glow. He felt the boy was still behind him, but he still turned every so often so he could truly see.

Soon, Bill willed the door open and ushered the boy in, but the boy just turned around and stared at him. The triangle raised an eyebrow at Isaac, hands on his "hips", and pointedly glanced over at the dark green bed. He surely wasn't expecting to do more than walk this boy to bed, but then the light-skinned child murmured, "My parents usually tuck me in too..."

Bill rolled his eyes and complained, "Eugh, your parents pamper you far too much!" but he did what Isaac wanted anyway, levitating the boy into bed and fixing the blankets onto him via his magic, and the boy was awed and amazed by this display.

He suddenly had the thought to strangle him, or at least smother the boy, with said blankets, but this was barely entertained. The demon waited a bit, his arms now crossed, for yet another request, but Isaac had said nothing, and then Bill turned to leave.

That was when the boy said, "They also read me a bedtime story..."

The triangle's eye nearly crackled with anger, and he growled, " _This_ is where I draw the line! I'm not reading you a bedtime story!"

Isaac fell silent, more so than usual, and then tears began to well up in his eyes. Had Bill not met Nasla, this wouldn't have fazed him one bit, but he could already feel his anger fading and his look softening. Bill glanced about the room and soon beheld a bookshelf. He scanned all the books, searching for a suitable story.

The demon himself had plenty of stories to tell, he knew, but all of them would traumatize the kid at best, so he settled for looking through these storybooks.

He found a good one and it started glowing a deep blue. It soon teleported into his hand, and he couldn't keep his eye off the title―The Ugly Duckling―even as he worked his way to the other side and settled upon a stool beside Isaac's bed. Isaac stared at Bill as Bill stared at the book, and finally, after a few long minutes, the triangle opened it and began reading, in a surprisingly soft voice.

The boy thoroughly enjoyed the reading, as his sleepy smile and the spark in his sleepy eyes could attest. In other circumstances, he would have been mentally and verbally scathingly criticizing the simple words and simple, short constructions, but this time no such words were thought of.

In fact, he found that he somewhat, he hated to admit, enjoyed this, if only because he was comforting someone else.

Near the end of the story, he looked up at Isaac, and found that the boy was fast asleep. A shade of a smile worked its way onto his eye, and Bill touched the child's forehead with his index, and the crown of his head glowed. The grin grew as Isaac's own smile got slightly bigger and even showed some teeth.

He had bestowed upon him good dreams, and now the light-skinned boy looked like how he was in that picture again, only asleep. Bill felt a pang in his mind again, and suddenly he now wanted to leave the boy with nightmares, and it turned into another, albeit minor, scuffle with his thoughts.

His eye narrowed with halfhearted contempt yet again, and looked down at the book, as he rubbed at his "head". The demon couldn't help finishing the pages, and then closed the book gently; he levitated it back to its spot in the bookcase and thought for a bit.

"Lost, eh...?" he quietly mused, getting off the stool and making his way to the door, "that describes me so well right now..."

Bill chuckled sadly, spared one last look at Isaac, and left the room, and, soon, the building altogether to get back to Nasla...

He just had to hope that he'd get found soon, just like that duckling at the end.

It was all he _could_ do...

* * *

Fin.  
Dec. 28, 2015  
5:25p

* * *

 **A/N:** And there we go! and, if you guys caught that one massive, plot-important reference ((it actually kinda covers the whole latter half of the chapter - that's how massive it is!)) to a classic movie I love, then you get a mountain of cookies! but, unfortunately, they'd all have to be virtual... =T  
Now, that this chapter is done... ONTO LE NEXT! WOOOO!


	3. The Search

**A/N:** And here's Chapter Three! it's relatively short compared to the first two. I hope you all enjoy it nonetheless!

Chapter Theme: Metallica - Frantic

* * *

Beg.  
12/29/2015  
4:05p

* * *

 **Chapter Three: The Search**

Once again, Bill fought off this concern for Nasla, to some degree of success, as he floated across the cracked pavement towards her location. He kept his eye down, not wanting to see the ruins that was once the great but relatively quaint town of Gravity Falls, only looking up to make sure he was going in the right direction and also to make sure he wasn't about to crash into anything. The demon had a few close calls, and he sighed of relief; he didn't want to make whatever was going on in his head worse.

The isosceles thought back to that experience with Isaac, and then to Isaac himself. He didn't even _try_ to forget, because he knew it would result in failure, especially since it was a rather powerful memory. But he had a sense that perhaps, if he delved deeper into it, he might find out what caused himself to go wrong...

...or go _right_ , as the case may be.

Bill shook his "head", narrowing his eye.

No.

If he searched for the answer, he'd end up even more lost, and his compassion might boil up to the breaking point.

That he did _not_ want.

The demon chanced a look at the buildings and homes, hoping inwardly that this was just some sort of nasty nightmare. The despair nearly choked him when he saw it was still in that same broken state in which he left it, but, like that compassion, he snuffed this out too.

 _Just focus on Nasla... just_ _ **focus**_ _on Nasla..._ he all but chanted as he continued his journey back to that corner, eye on the pavement again. But when he arrived, the corner was empty, and Bill's heart dropped. The demon stammered, before finally this came out, "I thought I told her to stay put!"

He recalled then that he said no such thing, and facepalmed, groaning. This time he almost did drag his eye off his face, his concern for her and frustration at himself nearly skyrocketing.

What if the Head had _actually_ eaten her?

What if she got petrified and flown off to the Fearamid?

WHAT IF―?!

Bill stopped these thoughts cold in their tracks, and slight apathy snowed in, mixing with his now diminished worry.

"Oh, she's fine... she probably either ran or wandered off..." he crossed his arms, eyeing where Nasla used to be. The dream demon looked around, hand now on his "chin" and eye narrowed, "She couldn't have gotten far..."

And thus the search for both Nasla and her blanket began, much to Bill's already skyrocketed irritation, and it mounted above his concern, which was a minor relief, but being irritated was irritating, probably just as much as his concern.

The dream demon continued down the street, following the paved path away from the corner; he brought up his all-seeing eye power to look through all triangles, searching for predominately Nasla. Her blanket could wait a while; a life could be in danger, and he wanted to make sure she was at least okay.

Why he didn't crush this feeling this time, he wasn't sure at all, but it didn't matter...

...not this time...

The dream demon eventually found her, cowering under a table in one of the buildings he had yet to check. Bill sighed of relief, visibly showing it too, and he finally snuffed out the concern and relief. And then he vanished...

The girl was still cowering underneath the table in a derelict inn, even when what had given her fright had long since gone away.

She remembered it clearly.

She was just standing on the corner, waiting for Bill Cipher, her life-saver, to reappear with her lucky blanket in hand. When, suddenly, she heard shuffling noises in the near distance to her right, and then a voice that radiated of innocence and nervosity, "Hey, little girl!" Nasla looked up, shocked, and the voice continued, "Yes, you. Do... do you mind...? y'know, getting in my mouth...?"

She gasped and then looked that way, her eyes practically widening to the size of saucers. It was a strange monstrosity, with a huge hand grown out of the top of its bodiless head.

And it was getting closer...

She backed away from it, and he―she had discerned that the voice belonged to it―sighed, "No, not _that_ way. Toward me... you see, I'm a hungry mo- _very_ hungry monster."

This puzzled her.

This thing actually believed she _wanted_ to get eaten...?

Well, that just wasn't gonna happen.

"Now, I'll give you so-something if you get in my mouth," he continued, dragging itself closer, from which she backed away again, and he groaned. "Just do it! I'll tell you afterwards!"

And then she took off running in the other direction, and the abomination outright growled, "Oh, come on!" but it came out as a halfhearted groan. She remembered it chased her into this very building, shouting out negotiations, all of which were ignored.

It was surprisingly fast, and strong too, and it took the sliding, automatic doors of this inn to stop it. She just barely made it, and under the table was where she remained for the entirety of the time. Nasla let out some whimpers, curling up within herself, until she saw a bright flash out of the corner of her eye, the table protecting her from the sheer brilliance, and heard a familiar voice, "Hey, kid! nice disappearing act there!" and she smiled.

"You can come out from under the table," he went on to say, and his smirk could be heard in his comments, "I assure you I didn't bring any _real_ phobiae to mess with ya."

She didn't know how worried he actually was; he hid it so well. Nasla carefully and slowly crawled out from under the table, and Bill waited surprisingly patiently; the girl didn't even bother brushing herself down when done. She noted the lack of a blanket on his person and tilted her head, "Where's my blanket...? you said you'd come back when it was found..."

There was a sigh and Bill looked askance, "Slight change of plans, kid," and his voice was mournful. Nasla grew afraid that he wanted to convince her to take the slave offer again; she knew it was perhaps unfounded, but it got shoved in front of her mind's eye anyway.

"And no, it isn't to try again to get you to be my slave," he begrudgingly tacked on, and the fear outright dispersed, "as much as I want that..."

Bill noticeably twitched a few times, almost as if he was mentally fighting something again, but it quickly went away, and he gazed at her again, that demonic eye staring down at her, but it was demonic only in how it was structured.

"I was...well..." he, twiddling his fingers, again had trouble getting out what he had to say, "I was..." and then he suddenly snapped, clenching his fists, "I was worried, okay?!" causing Nasla to flinch.

Bill Cipher sighed again, dropping his now unclenched hands to his sides, and directed his gaze downward, eyeing the chipped floor and ripped-up carpet. Nasla pursed her lips, looking at the demon like he'd grown a mouth, and said demon cursed under his "breath", and fortunately the girl couldn't discern which it was.

"You were worried about me...? she iterated, not meaning it to mock Bill; she was actually highly curious and surprised. The three-sided polygon shot her a nasty glare, and it shut her up _and_ told her what she needed to know.

So... he really worried about her...

Were it not for that glare, she'd say that it was sweet.

The demon huffed and then raised a finger at Nasla, the glare softening somewhat, and then pointed around this inn, "Stay... _here_... ya hear me? _stay here_."

Nasla nodded, "Okay."

And then Bill nodded practically his entire body, not wasting any more words or time on this fleshling, and he disappeared once more in that bright flash. The girl looked down at the ground, and then to where he once levitated.

She wanted to say so many things, but she was too afraid. Hopefully next time she might work up more to say, to ask. But, for now, she settled on making this inn her impromptu home, and maybe, just _maybe_ , her blanket would soon be found...

* * *

Fin  
Jan. 3, 2016  
1:16a

* * *

 **A/N:** And that's chapter three, y'all! hooray! and I can say with full confidence that _Irony by Kiven_ is officially the theme song for this story. I posted a remix, by Clinton VanSciver, in my Song Recommendations collection on Google Plus, but the original also fits. I'd been thinking on that a lot, and yeah, that's my verdict. Heh. Go look that song up, why don'tcha? both versions! you won't regret it!  
And onto Chapter Four I go!


	4. Nightmares

**A/N:** Here's Chapter Four! I leave you to read with this warning...

 _ **MASSIVE FEELS AHEAD!**_

Chapter Themes:

1\. Prince Whateverer - The Fight Within (Aviators Remix)

Some of the verses fit.

2\. Wooden Toaster + H8Seed - Awoken

* * *

Beg.  
1/3/2016  
4:21p

* * *

 **Chapter Four: Nightmares**

It was getting late, as far as Bill Cipher could tell. He _had_ stopped time, so he was going by his instinct. Plus, he was somewhat tired, as was a "perk" of being in physical form.

"Whew, aside from puppeting Pine Tree, I never thought I'd get tired..." the triangle mumbled, exiting from yet another building, "at least... not here or now..." **  
**  
Bill knew he had to find someplace decent right now to get some sleep. He thought back to his demon friends, wondering if they'll be okay with him gone, and even if they even worried about him. The triangle then, with a dismissive wave of his hand, figured they'd be fine and that they were probably worried about just a smidge but not so much, considering what he could do.

He didn't feel like going back to the Fearamid anyway, for a reason he did not yet know.

Bill "yawned", and he knew he had to glide across the path more quickly. Why his mind didn't bother him about going to sleep and kept him awake didn't cross his mind.

The dream demon thought about going back to Isaac's home and seeking some sort of refuge there, and mulled it over for quite a while. He decided that maybe returning to the boy's abode would be great; the boy would be familiar with him and thus no new incident would arise.

Though perhaps there would be unwanted ones, he'd deal with them all, just as he had before.

And so Bill Cipher made his way back to Isaac's house, floating rather close to the ground and yawning once... twice... and then thrice.

Finally, when it seemed he was about to fall and pass out, he was in the building and soon in the same room as that picture. On the way, he couldn't help checking on Isaac, and the kid was still fast asleep. He couldn't help smiling, but he didn't try to crush that feeling. Bill Cipher narrowed his eye at the family photo in thought, snagging it off the dresser and looking at it with much closer inspection as he levitated onto the bed.

Someday, he'd get the kid's parents back...

...even if they may have died due to petrification _and_ their wounds combined...

...he'd get them back...

...no matter what...

The demon traced their smiles once more and then carefully lay down with the frame still in hand, it somewhat lying on his "chest" now, which didn't move up or down. He didn't even _need_ to breathe, and yet he often found himself sighing, yawning, and anything else to do with a fleshba― _human's_ respiratory system.

Bill began finding the species somewhat intriguing, and began considering that maybe he should be studying them instead of trying to destroy them.

Or perhaps he could do more than study... his thoughts grew more excited. He could―! and then he slowly pushed it aside, as if reluctant, and sighed again.

He couldn't feed into this right about now.

It was keeping him awake, and he couldn't afford to be sleepy during his search for Nasla's blanket. It would be a train wreck―that he could tell.

Bill could imagine it clearly... and he shuddered.

"Ugh, at this rate I'll never go to sleep!" he groaned quietly, "just... keep quiet on your thoughts... and your talking..."

He closed his eye, and eventually fell asleep, hoping to get nice dreams of torturing fleshbags as he always had, but instead...

...there was a memory, one that focused on Isaac's parents.

He was more or less forced to live through that again.

And this time he didn't enjoy it...

"No... stop!" Bill cried out as his nightmare self began practically electrocuting them with his bare hands, but neither Robert, Maria nor himself heard his cries against it, for the demon kept tormenting them. He watched as he got worse and worse in his methods, and broke down crying when Maria got separated from Robert.

And poor Robert had to watch.

Bill Cipher forced him to watch as he subjugated the lady to the _worst mental horrors_ ever.

As much as he wanted to wake up, he couldn't for some reason, despite being a dream demon. He found this odd, and he tried desperately to block out the bloodcurdling screams and pleas of his victims and his crazed, evil laughter...

It was then when he woke up, having felt multiple pokes in his bowtie and top hat, and was face-to-face with Isaac. Bill sighed and it took all he had not to cry, especially out of relief that it was just a dream. The demon soon realized he had woken the poor kid, and his eye drooped once more, apologetically, "S...sorry..."

The boy shrugged, rubbing at his eyes, "It's fine..."

There was a large, unassuming silence between the two of them, as the shivering triangle kept staring sadly and apologetically at Isaac while Isaac was wondering what was wrong behind that tired, emotionless expression of his. The boy's eye wandered to the photo in Bill's trembling hand, and the latter realized, looking down at it. The frame and the glass were slightly cracked, as he had been holding it extremely tightly, and thus...

Bill cringed and "sniffled", returning the photo, "I... I'll replace it..."

The boy merely nodded, taking the frame back, "Okay... thank you..." but the demonic triangle, with his newfound waterfall of empathy, could tell how hurt he was, even with how apathetic the boy seemed.

 _This was..._ _ **different**_ , the boy thought.

This Bill seemed so somber, so quiet, and much more openly empathetic this time around.

Not to mention openly kinder.

Isaac wondered for a moment whether he was meeting a triangle who just so happened to look like Bill Cipher, but there was no mistaking that this was Bill.

How he knew his name?

Well, he'd heard it literally screamed at the top of the demon's metaphorical lungs, along with a loud "NO!", just before he poked his bowtie. Meanwhile, said demon was still shuddering and shivering, unbidden tears welling up despite him trying to stop them.

He couldn't tell what was wrong...

Not to anyone, but _especially_ not to this boy.

Bill had the nagging suspicion that Isaac had no idea what happened to his parents, and, most importantly, _who_ made his parents disappear.

He couldn't do that...

It bothered him that before all this he would have wasted no time in rubbing it in the kid's face... but now?

Now, he wouldn't bring it up for fear of hurtling the boy through hell and back...

And telling him would definitely trigger that.

Bill, at this moment, was starting to regret coming here.

He shouldn't have come here...

He shouldn't have come here...

He _shouldn't_ have come here...

He was far too vulnerable, much more than he liked to be, which was not at all. There was yet another poke, and the demon was brought back to reality and found that he'd let tears slip down from his eye, and felt that his bowtie was soaked. He silently cursed at himself, and Isaac looked even more concerned, as much as a practically emotionless boy with what seemed to be a mild and strange post-traumatic stress could look, having leaned in closer. The boy asked, "What's wrong?

The demon looked at Isaac, his saddened eye narrowed, and it took a while before he finally said, "Everything..."

The boy didn't seem to understand, "Wait, what do you mean?"

"Just... _everything_!" Bill snapped, for a moment returning to that same personality Isaac had seen earlier that day, but this wasn't permanent, for the demon went back to moping, "I... I don't know who I am anymore...

"It's like I'm two different people now... and I don't like it... it's so tortur―" and then he thought better of telling a kid all this, a mere fleshling who no doubt wouldn't understand this at all, and a mere boy who had enough on his plate already. "Bah! why am I even telling _you_?! I doubt you'd understand!" and before Isaac could even interject that he didn't but could help, Bill growled, "And I can deal with this on my own, thank you very much!"

The boy shook his head slightly, begging to differ, but nonetheless was comforted when Bill seemed to return to his usual self. He decided to leave the subject alone, and this was when the demon yawned again.

He felt himself going to sleep, but he didn't want to, lest he may end up having another nightmare.

But he also felt as if he wouldn't get another; he wondered if his mind was just playing tricks on him, making him think this next one was going to be restful.

However, he had to get _some_ semblance of sleep, or else...

Isaac noticed Bill's eye get droopier, and he didn't bother him; he simply backed away, emotionless dark blue eyes still staring at the triangle. The demon took the boy's features in this time; last time he hardly cared about that. He looked a little like his arch-enemy, more like Dipper Gleeful, but with a much different hairstyle, his dark brown hair heavily disheveled, and he was wearing spotted pajamas; he also seemed unhealthily skinny...

Bill shook his "head", driving away the rising concern. He'd never go to sleep if he started worrying, for his compassion was almost completely unmanageable at this point. After he succeeded cutting down his compassion to reasonable levels, he drifted off to sleep again...

...only to be dropped into the same memory once more.

This time, he was able to move more freely, and tried to stop his nightmare self from beginning the torture on Robert and Maria, but he found he was unable to...

"I'm gonna have to cut you down a few sizes!"

And then there were those looks again... the looks that would haunt him forever...

His nightmare self's hands enveloped with fire, blue and red fire, and his eye was filled with utter malice and sadism. Bill tried to stop N. Bill, grabbing for his hands before they even touched the married couple, but they phased right through them, much to his shock and dismay.

"No! NO!" he cried out as his nightmare self shouted, "Now, let's see how you handle this!" and grabbed the couple's arms, and his hands both burnt and electrocuted them.

"Stop! stop!" he cried again, but the nightmare wouldn't stop. He tried to change his dreamscape again, to something more pleasant, but he couldn't...

He just couldn't access his powers...

...and this concerned him deeply.

Now, it came time for Maria's separation and subjugation to horrors mankind couldn't possibly imagine as well as stabs to her body, and Maria cried and shouted and screamed, unaware that this only gave her predator glee.

While Robert and Bill himself watched...

...completely helpless...

Bill felt more pokes to his soaked bowtie, and he woke up again in a cold sweat, which meant his treasured bowtie was also covered in sweat...

 _Great..._ was the only sarcastic mutter he could manage, and it wasn't just towards his bowtie either...

His eye wandered over to Isaac, who had taken on even more of a worried gaze.

"Are you _sure_ you'll be able to handle this on your own?" the boy asked with more emotion than he'd been displaying all day. Bill merely tossed him a tearful glare, shivering once more; he grabbed the blankets and curled up within them. Isaac grew unimpressed with the demon's antics, and left Bill curled up within his once parents' blankets. He was about to leave the room; Bill looked up from the blankets and saw this, and, before he could even think about it...

"Kid... please stay... I... just stay _please_!"

...that came out, and Isaac was alarmed, turning back to face the triangle swathed in blankets. Bill looked terrified of being alone with his nightmares, and Isaac wondered if he should fulfill the demon's demands.

One choice slid in―"Yes"―but that wasn't enough.

Another choice―"Definitely"―but Isaac still wasn't swayed.

And then "Absolutely" rolled around, and the boy knew what he must do.

He stayed, pulling up a chair and taking a seat at Bill's bedside.

"...thank you," the demon sounded utterly relieved that Isaac wasn't leaving, and the boy simply nodded. Isaac figured that since he was there for him―walking him to bed, tucking him in and even reading him a bedtime story―when he didn't even want to, the boy could do the same, despite wanting to go back to sleep.

A few minutes later, Bill fell asleep, and seemed at peace for the first few seconds...

...and then he began tossing and turning and shouting in his sleep, and the boy was quick to end the nightmare with a poke. The demon grew increasingly saddened, and, most of all, irritated at all this. The kid tilted his head, still wondering what was wrong and tried to coax Bill into telling, but again the three-sided polygon said no. There was a yawn from both the boy and Bill, and the latter didn't want to fall asleep, drawing the blankets closer, but Isaac convinced him, "Maybe you won't have another bad dream...?

"Pheh, that's what they _all_ say!" the demon shot back, but nonetheless lay back down and drifted off again. This time, his peace lasted a longer time, and Isaac nodded off repeatedly as he tried to stay awake but avoided glancing around. Memories permeated this room, and he couldn't bear to reminisce now.

He tried his best to stay awake, but ended up falling asleep, sprawled eventually rather awkwardly in his chair; unfortunately, this was when Bill had yet another nightmare of the same thing...

...only this time, it focused on Maria getting separated.

He shouted in his sleep, but Isaac was caught in a deep part of his cycle. Bill tossed and turned, trying to wake up, but couldn't, and he wondered frantically why the pokes never came.

They were effectively his ticket out of this mess, but they never came...

The demon tried again, and again, and then he could feel the nightmare relent, as if saying he'd undergone enough, and he took this chance to wake up on his own, almost shooting up out of bed. He was shivering again, and then his gaze wandered onto Isaac, a question forming, but it evaporated when he saw that the kid was sleeping...

Bill sighed, and he'd be thankful the kid wouldn't see him again like something pitiful and pathetic if it weren't for these damned nightmares. Bill Cipher debated going back to sleep, but it only took a couple seconds for a "NO!" to buzz through his brain.

He'd had _enough_ of sleep for one day, and maybe even for the rest of his life, and then he looked at Isaac uncomfortably sprawled in that chair. The demon didn't feel up to it to bring him back to his own room, so he, firing up his magic, levitated the kid onto the bed after he got out of it himself.

Bill tucked him in once more, folding the blankets properly onto him, and then, satisfied, left the room. He had to think of something else to do to pass the "night"...

* * *

Fin.  
Jan. 8, 2016  
10:17a

* * *

 **A/N:** And here's chapter four! there's a reason I didn't go all in detail with his nightmare, especially with what happened to Maria. I'm leaving it all up to your imagination, but just know that you can think what you want but events of the nightmare won't be above the rating T+ at best.  
Poor Bill though. Stupid nightmares. But it _had_ to be written. I also hope I got Bill in character. Also, wasn't expecting Isaac to make a return... but I _had_ to do it, and this time I gave him a proper description.  
Anyway, I'm off to write the next chapter, but I kinda sorta feel like a Writer's Block is coming on. That and college is starting for me again Monday, so uploads will be slow. Sorry about that. I'm really, very sorry about that, and I'll try my best to juggle Google Plus, writing, AND making music and videos and playing video games ((it's a maybe for the last three)) and school.

And for the guests who say they love it, thank you. XD

P.S. I'm going to be assigning a theme song to each chapter. So I'll be editing each chapter, one by one, to put in theme songs. So look forward to that. I'll tell you whether I did it or not in the next update. Soooo, I overstayed my welcome. CIAO!


	5. Experimenting in Humanity

**A/N:** Aaaand here's Chapter Five, finally! again, updates and the process of writing itself will be very slow since college started for me last week. So enjoy! I also updated Chapter One with two theme songs. Go check that out!

Main Theme: Pogo - Boo Bass (Magic Mix) or San Holo - We Rise  
Sub Theme: Kolourz - Verisimilitude (Instrumental Hip Hop)

* * *

Beg.  
1/9/2016  
1:00a est

* * *

 **Chapter Five: Experimenting in Humanity**

Isaac Donslova woke from a relatively dreamless sleep to a strange scent. He wasn't sure if it was food or something else, but it enticed him all the same. The boy sat up in bed, and became aware there was a weight in his hand. The boy looked down and saw he was still holding the frame, cracked but still precious.

He remembered now...

Bill was here last night and had urged him to stay, but he'd apparently fallen asleep and the demon tucked him in here and went off elsewhere, if the lack of a golden glow in the room was any indication.

The scent was getting stronger, and Isaac was growing ever curious. He decided to get out of bed, and, after setting the frame down in its place once more, he left the room and took his time walking downstairs. The scent was more discernible, and it was a mish-mash of different "foods". As soon as he made it to the kitchen, it was rather obvious what the demon took to doing while he was asleep.

There was a variety of dishes splayed across the large countertops, some edible, some not. Or maybe they just _looked_ edible, but the boy didn't know, so he didn't bother trying any.

There was so much food it was enough for a party or more. The refrigerator was open, the stovetop ablaze with pots about to boil over, and blue energy nearly consumed the whole area. And in the center of it all was Bill Cipher, who seemed a lot better off than when Isaac saw him last. He looked like he was in the zone, in a pose with hands raised and legs straddling the air and his eye closed with content. The demon didn't even look like he had nightmares, or as sad as he had possibly just hours earlier; he had almost no sense of time now.

The boy had his first smile in what seemed like centuries right there...

The energy suddenly stopped, the refrigerator slammed shut, and the fire on the stove dissipated.

"Well, look who finally woke up?" Bill began without even looking at Isaac, and he entered a normal pose as the boy jumped back a few inches, smile gone; the demon continued, "I thought I might try my hand at one of those... human constructive activities you all do."

The boy then looked around at all the food, and Bill stifled a yawn as he opened his eye and smirked, chuckling shamelessly, "It's actually kinda fun!"

The boy's gaze landed back on Bill, and already he noticed something was wrong. The dream demon's eye seemed bloodshot and really tired, despite his attempts to hide it.

"Why don't you try some? you're probably hungry anyway," Bill shocked him with this question and statement, so much so that Isaac stepped back a bit, but the demon assumed that it was out of disgust and surmised, "Eh, I'm bettin' at least _half_ of these are edible. Not quite sure anymore," as he scanned each food with his exhausted eye.

The boy looked at each cooked, baked, fried and so on item as well, trying to pick out which looked like what he could eat the most. He soon saw what looked like meatloaf, and pointed it out. The demon followed his gaze tiredly, and then, after multiple fails, most of which involved him getting the wrong food, finally levitated the "meatloaf" over to Isaac. Thankfully, it just so happened to be his most recently cooked meal, so it was already warm enough to eat. The boy took a seat, and Bill chuckled wryly, "It'd be a shame if you died... I mean, such a shame! for you to die so early in your life!"

The boy blanched, but somehow kept his appetite, and the demon continued, giving the boy a fork and a knife, "But it ain't your time, so you're fine! unless you _wanna_ go early!?" and chuckling with a bit of glee.

Isaac almost tossed down the utensils, but he had to eat _something_. Bill was right; he was indeed hungry, having subsisted on cereal and simple sandwiches for however many days since his parents went missing.

But Bill was certainly wrong if he thought being _happily_ morbid at a time like this was going to get him to eat what he cooked. He had no choice though, so he dug into the meatloaf...

...and instead of choking or spitting out the bite like he'd expected, he found he'd actually enjoyed it. The demon was quiet almost throughout, eyebrow raised and hands on his "hips" as he waited for the verdict on his meatloaf. Isaac nodded a lot, struggling to keep from smiling, "This is good actually."

Bill celebrated, his eye arching into a smile, "Oh, good! it was my first try too!"

"First try, huh?" the boy iterated, not because he didn't understand.

"Well, yeah..." his eye twitched, and Isaac almost knew it was a lie, and then the demon relented, "fine, it took a few tries! happy now?!" crossing his arms and looking irritated.

The boy didn't mean to ruin his good mood, but he couldn't take it back, so he apologized, only to be met with a "Meh". There was a tense silence, as Bill went around, sampling some foods and wrapping up others. He threw out the food that didn't taste good and the hungry monsters and demons outside immediately ate it up.

The boy, in the meantime, was thinking of a way to make it up to the demon, still eating at his meatloaf. He decided to stir up casual conversation with the triangle, but it wasn't really entertained. Bill shoved the wrapped food via magic into the once again open fridge and then closed it again, this time a bit more gently, but Isaac could still tell he was upset.

The triangle was now finished, but kept one dish out for himself and he sat down opposite Isaac, still floating however because of that superiority complex he seemed to have.

And he _did_.

He still hated the very thought of being on a flesh-bag's level, so then why...

...why was he so interested in them?

Surely maybe there was some bout in his past where he—and then his mind, it seemed, yanked him away from such thoughts. Something inside him, he felt, could tell he was getting far too close to whatever was making him feel empathy and compassion...

 _But what_ _ **was**_ _it?!_ he so yearned to know. _And what is this_ _ **thing**_ _that's keeping me from getting what I should know...?_

He sat in thought for a while, and mumbled darkly, "Or maybe I _shouldn't_ know..."

Isaac tilted his head at the demon; he didn't catch what he said, unfortunately, but the silence... and the way Bill was staring, at _nothing,_ even though it was his face, _disconcerted_ him. He called out to the triangle, and Bill seemed to snap awake from his wave of thoughts, eye pivoting up to look at the boy with loads more focus than before.

"You okay?"

The demon narrowed his eye and snarled, "Yes! I'm fine!"

The boy was about to disagree, when Bill unknowingly interrupted, "For the _millionth_ time!" obviously exaggerating.

Isaac sighed, and then swallowed the last of his meatloaf, and the demon began to feed himself; it was haphazard, as if he hadn't eaten in forever, but the food seemed to disappear into the spot just below his eye, also where Mabel Pines had once gotten eaten and then spit back out, so it didn't really leave a mess other than on himself.

That the boy was thankful for...

The food actually tasted delicious when he sampled them, and this surprised him. He wanted more, but he also didn't want to eat the kid out of house and of home.

This sense of human morality and ethics he was also somehow developing confused him heavily.

No... it _confounded_ him...

"Confused" was such a weak word... and, instead of crushing it, he felt he was growing ever curious about these feelings. Bill suddenly wanted to see how it all worked. He knew, however. that it wouldn't come so easily, but he had to try.

Bill looked at Isaac again, and sighed. He thought about just scrapping it all, but he'd gotten so far...

The demon looked down at the table, rapping his knuckles on it; he remembered, albeit vaguely, that he used to have casual, non-morbid conversations with humans, an act of empathy he surmised.

 _Simple conversation..._ he narrowed his eye, _Seems simple enough..._

They both sat in silence as the three-sided polygon attempted to mentally concoct a start to such a human action. Finally, looking Isaac in the eyes, he managed, "How has your day been?" and that seemed a struggle.

The boy looked at Bill Cipher like he grew a mouth, the second time he received such a look, and, with a roll of his eye, he began to regret experimenting in the social aspect of humanity.

Until...

"Oh, I'd been okay... you?" and Bill blinked as he looked at Isaac, who was now, still confused, awaiting a response.

 _This was still Bill, right?_ he asked himself, barely believing it all.

Meanwhile, said triangle was surprised as well. He wasn't expecting getting a question thrown back at him, and he wasn't sure what to say.

Bill didn't think the boy cared about him enough to ask.

"I... I... that's good, I guess," the demon stammered, and he _hated_ stammering but he pushed past this, and the boy's eyebrow rose at this. Eventually, he happily replied, "I'm doing great!" which was somewhat a lie, and in his thoughts he tacked on, _As great as a morbid demon with apparent split personality can be anyway..._

Isaac seemed to sense the lie, for his nose twitched, and Bill growled to himself for not being that good liar he used to be, and because he was starting to heavily dislike this sense the boy had. Luckily for the demon, he didn't ask, but also unfortunately Bill was hoping he would, and it nearly killed him when he didn't ask.

He had no idea what was happening within him, but he wanted to find out so badly...

And yet he didn't want to...

He wanted to... but he didn't want to...

Which side should he listen to...?

Which side was safer...?

He eventually decided that he'd scrap that plan.

Maybe the pieces would fall into place all on their own.

It was all he could hope...

The boy and demon continued to converse, and it barely delved into anything special or something like that. Maria and Robert were brought up, however, and Bill nearly shut down, not wanting to speak on this subject. It took a while, but Isaac finally realized and brought the conversation to another topic, and the triangle slowly opened up again.

They talked until it was "time" for bed once more, and Bill absolutely _refused_ to sleep, despite what the kid would say to try and convince. He just took watch over Isaac, giving him good dreams for the night, of course after tucking him in and reading him a bedtime story once more. Bill settled in the kitchen afterwards, counting the food he wrapped up, all while resisting the urge to eat it. He saw that it would last the boy about a week or two, and that he'd have to buy more ingredients and condiments.

Or simply get. No one was operating the cash registers.

His conscience bothered him a while about this before he scoffed, _Ugh, fine... I'll pay..._

And then it left him alone, retreating back into the recesses of his twisted mind. But he wasn't planning to go right away...

He'd go when the week was out and then prepare more food. It was so simple and so fun he didn't mind doing it again. Then again, nearly _all_ things were easy for him because he had powers. Briefly, he wondered how long he would last without them, and shuddered.

Probably not long...

Bill put his thoughts back on Isaac as he left the building, and smiled yet again with his eye at him asking how he was. He found he was deeply touched by the whole thing, and sighed dreamily.

 _Maybe... just_ _ **maybe**_ _... this human thing won't be so bad after all..._

* * *

Fin.  
Jan. 18, 2016  
2:03a

* * *

 **A/N:** And there's the end! hehe, Bill's changing a lot actually, isn't he? I hope it isn't rushed or weak in anyway; homework and this darned Writer's Block is putting me into a tizzy.  
By the way, I'm still debating whether or not to have it ten chapters or twenty chapters. But we'll see, won't we? So, yeah, as always, leave a review. I'd love to see what you think. :3  
ONTO CHAPTER SIX!


	6. The Frame of Curiosity

**A/N:** Aaaaand here's Chapter Six! I hope it's not weak in any way, because I wrote it when I was half-tired and somewhat busy. It's also rather short, but it contains lots of information, which you shall soon see... X3

Chapter Theme:  
Blue October - X Amount of Words (Original, and Carmen Remix)  
Some of the lyrics fit.

* * *

Beg.  
Jan. 18, 2016

2:05a

* * *

 **Chapter Six: The Frame of Curiosity**

Bill Cipher sighed, as he looked around at the desolate area. It finally succeeded in depressing him, and he barely tried squashing the compassion. Right now, it was too tough trying to do that, so he was stuck with this. If this is what experimenting in humanity got him, and had he known, he 'd have had no part of it.

But it was too late to turn back.

Far too late...

Sighing, he focused his attention on Nasla's blanket. He knew he'd been making her wait a long time, and so he wanted to pick up the pace. Unfortunately, this blanket was difficult to find, and it set him back. He was determined, however, to find it before the "day" was done and bring it back to the girl.

So happy she would definitely be...

 _And finally, maybe then, I'll get back to torture..._

This thought didn't sit well with him, however, like it used to. Had he really changed this much in the course of three or two days...?

Or maybe even one...?

This compassion seemed to muddle his brain and ergo his sense of time, and the triangle growled with utter frustration.

Or perhaps it was the lack of sleep?

Based on his experiences inhabiting a human body, he had to learn the hard way that certain functions, especially mental and physical ones, seemed to shut down when the individual doesn't get enough sleep. He never would have thought this would apply to him, not even in physical form, but it did and he much disliked the feeling. But he didn't _want_ to sleep either, for fear of having another nightmare. Bill sighed, pulling his thoughts away from all that and settling them onto Nasla's blanket once more.

Hopefully he'd find it soon.

He came across another rundown building, Hoo-Ha Owl's Pizzamatronic Jamboree, the place to which many people and children flocked before the incident with Giffany. Now, it was a pretty barren place, not helped much by his Weirdmaggedon.

The triangle briefly wondered why he didn't come here first of all; it seemed like Nasla could have come here with wonder and lost her blanket here.

 _And didn't realize it until it was too late... ugh, humans..._

But he wasn't sure if this was the place yet, and he was glad he didn't say his thought aloud. The demon floated towards the doors, opening them via magic, and inside the pizzeria he went. Needless to say, he was pretty unimpressed with everything, which was certainly better than being saddened.

Paint was chipping off the wooden walls, the tables that weren't bolted down were knocked over, and so were the animatronics, now dysfunctional and in total disrepair, lying on the derelict stage that had once been clean and in tip-top shape.

The whole pizzeria used to be clean and in tip-top shape...

And that's when his depression came slinking back into his mind, much to his consternation. He brought his thoughts back to Isaac Donslova, to the time he spent with the boy, and he found himself grinning.

Suddenly, he remembered...

 _Oh! the frame! I'm supposed to replace it!_

Bill then realized something...

He could do something way better than just get him food or just buy him a simple frame. The demon chortled as he channeled his energy again, focusing it all on the boy's home. The fridge, he could feel, had refilled itself with lots more food, to last him for months and even years, and then here he magically crafted a beautiful frame, of golden crust and mahogany wood. He knew it wouldn't be as precious in that sense as the one he _accidentally_ broke, but it certainly made up for it all.

But his parents?

No.

Nothing would ever make up for that, except for actually bringing his parents back, and he couldn't do that yet.

Bill touched the frame, creating small triangles on every corner. His intent to this was to watch over the kid, but hopefully he wouldn't need to. Isaac seemed pretty capable of being independent. Nasla, on the other hand...

And that brought him back to the issue with her blanket, but first...

He teleported the frame to the boy's house, replacing the cracked one with this new one, but he kept the old frame there on the dresser. Isaac should be dearly surprised in the morning.

Now, for the steel green fluffy sheet...

The three-sided polygon scanned the patron area, looking under a few still upright tables.

Nothing.

He checked the actual stage, keeping his compassion and depression under (slight) control, though he could very well lapse any moment. Bill Cipher found nothing, but examined one of the animatronics out of curiosity. Suddenly, he wanted to see how this all worked too.

He levitated all of them to their positions, standing them up, and magically repaired their inner workings. The demon then started the show, taking a seat, only partially levitating now.

Some time passed and he realized it was just cheesy singing and scripts, and he failed to see how people could enjoy this; this type of simplicity he couldn't take.

Not at all.

With a disappointed sigh, he ended the show prematurely. At least his experimentation with Isaac wasn't a failure...

And then his search for Nasla's blanket continued into the kitchen, but the moment he got there he blew it off. Bill just knew the blanket wouldn't be in there. He then went straight to the backstage area, hoping he'd find it. The demon checked various places, and then he finally looked near the red curtain.

There...

...was what Nasla wanted and for what he was looking for the past two or three days...

Her blanket.

Finally, he'd found it...

And life could go back to being relatively "normal", or "weird" as the case may be for him...

Oh, how wrong, _again,_ would he be...

The demon picked up the blanket, and immediately felt how soft it was.

Could this be why she wanted it so badly?

It seemed a liable reason, but he didn't know once more. This girl, when it came to emotions and rationalizing (her) actions, was an enigma. He couldn't even figure out what she did to bring all these stupid feelings and this stupid humanity into his system.

Bill, then sighed, anger gone, and suddenly felt bad for calling it all stupid.

Apparently, he was suffering mood swings, and this irritated him. He swung from not caring, to caring, from psychopathic, to humane, from unimpressed, to curious, and it wasn't predictable in any way, shape or form.

And what made matters worse?

He couldn't find what was causing it, and whenever he tried delving deeper, he'd stop himself...

Or, better yet, something _else_ seemed to stop him...

Either way, he wasn't getting answers, and as a being who was supposed to know lots of things, it frustrated him.

 _But..._ he sighed, _I finally have her blanket. That's what matters... right?_

He thought on this for a while, hand on his "chin", until...

 _...eh._

There was much more to this than a simple blanket, and he both wanted and didn't want to find out.

But he _had_ to...

Only thing—should he just let it come? or should he search...?

Bill sat on a chair, having levitating back into the patron's area, but this time he wasn't hovering. He pondered on this very issue. If delving resulted in a block, then he'd rather let it come.

And hopefully it would...

He snapped the blanket into his pocket dimension, making sure where he put it was clean, and then, getting up, took one last glance-around at the pizzeria before he left for the inn.

* * *

Fin.  
Jan. 27, 2016  
11:52p

* * *

 **A/N:** And at last, Chapter Six has arrived to join in the fun. XD  
Don't be alarmed or tricked by the "at last". This is far from the end.  
I see about five chapters left of this, but I'm not sure about it. It might be more, it might be fewer. Not even _I_ know.  
So, with that said, I hope you enjoyed, and for the previous chapters, I updated them with their chapter themes and fixed a mistake in Chapter Four, so go back and enjoy them. X3


End file.
